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CV NEWS FEED // The funds management company founded by left-wing billionaire George Soros has been investing significantly in the audio and radio industry, a recent report highlighted.
Though the company claims it is merely a move good for business, Soros Fund Management’s investments could be intended to combat the growing number and popularity of conservative podcasts, wrote journalist Max Tani for global news outlet Semafor on April 7.
There is a chance that the investments are perhaps just practical business moves, because radio shows and podcasts of all genres are increasing in popularity, Tani posited.
Tani highlighted that this February, Soros Fund Management “became the largest shareholder in Audacy, the bankrupt second-largest radio company in the U.S., with more than 230 U.S. stations and a podcast arm that includes Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Studios.”
The majority of Audacy’s podcasts and radio stations focus on sports and music, not politics or news.
However, the purchase “has already prompted fears among the conservative media personalities whose shows are broadcast on the company’s stations,” Tani wrote.
Program director of Glenn Beck’s radio program Dom Theodore expressed his concern about the Audacy purchase.
“In a healthy republic, the media is a ‘check-and-balance’ against those in power,” Theodore told Semafor. “But over the last few years, we’ve seen media outlets parroting talking points constructed by those in power, and over-consolidation of the media leading to censorship on an unprecedented scale by the elite.”
“This should concern every American,” Theodore added.
Tani noted that Soros’ previous investments in pro-liberal companies and media have historically “put him deeply at odds with a generation of figures on the right, from Hungary’s Viktor Orban to Tucker Carlson.”
In 2022, the company invested in Crooked Media, described by Tani as a “liberal podcast network.”
“And a Soros-backed firm played a crucial role in Univision’s $60 million sale in 2022 of 18 Hispanic radio stations to a new firm run by veterans of Democratic politics,” which was met with opposition from many Republican congressmen.
Several Soros fund executives said the audio investments may just be the start “of a bigger audio buying spree,” according to Tani, who added that internal and public communications of Soros Fund Management claim that the moves are “purely financial.”
“The investment in Crooked backs Soros’ liberal agenda, but it’s also a bet on the future of audio through the growing podcast industry,” Tani continued.
Through both radio and digital platforms, the audio industry makes up one-third of all media consumption. Further, the likelihood that consumers will listen to the ads during podcasts and radio shows is also higher than other media styles, according to Tani.
Tani referenced a previous report by Democrat communications operative Arkadi Gerney which argued that the left needs to have a larger presence in the audio industry in order to combat the “unmatched” right-wing influence on the platform.
“Whether ideology plays any role, Soros is following a format that Democratic communications officials have laid out for big-money donors to help bolster their agenda,” Tani wrote.
